Questions and Answers

Hi everyone,

I’m getting married next April and we want to do Bali for our honeymoon. We’re planning on flying out of Boston on April 15th and departing April 27th.

We want to open 1 – 2 cards to start building points. The main goal is to be able to upgrade to business/first class, rather than getting a steal on economy tickets.

It looks like Qatar might be our best bet in general, but I’m open to other airlines as well. I’m mainly stuck on which cards to get to get. Any ideas on which miles go the farthest?

Thank you!

Hey Kate!

I am doing this same trip in July. I used Delta Sky Miles to book China Airlines. I would the Delta SkyMiles Platinum card and the SPG rewards card. If you and your fiance both open both cards and meet the min spend you will get a bonus 35k SkyMiles each and a bonus of 35k SPG points each (worth more since you get bonus miles for transferring points to delta)

The AMEX Platinum card also has a 60k sign up bonus right now as well that can transfer to SkyMiles.

I am not a credit card expert so i would wait for other people to respond but that is how i did it!

Also its DPS not BPS 🙂

Hi there!

I just made the same journey from BOS- DPS last year in the Winter. Out of Boston, Qatar, Emirates, and Cathay Pacific are good options. The easiest way to get miles to use on Qatar Airways is via AA miles but they do not permit routings from the US to Asia 2 via the Middle East. However, you can get the AA citi cards to redeem for Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong.

The thing is however, since you want to upgrade, it is pretty difficult. Most airlines do not allow you to upgrade on partners. I would recommend outright redeeming, but if you don’t spend enough to do that, I would recommend getting a revenue based awards card such as one from Bank of America. This kind of card would giveize you points with about a 1 cent per point use. You can redeem those for an economy class ticket. Then, you can pay for upgrades with many airlines.

I did this last summer when going to Tahiti where there is little award space. I got 2 economy tickets via my bank of America points and then paid Air France $400 per person each way to upgrade to business. In the end, you actually can end up spending less and using less points.

Hope this helps!
Let me know if you need any additional help.

Phize

You could redeem 2 awards for travel on Qatar but that’s a lot of miles.

Delta’s SkyMiles like Jason pointed out is a great choice, though you’d have to connect in JFK.

You might also want to consider Korean Air, though you’d also have to connect in JFK

With Korean Air from JFK its the a380 so its angle business class not lie flat. You could go to Chicago and fly Korean Air, they have the new 747-8 with Apex Suites. China Airlines has flies the 777-300er with lie flat seats.

Lots of good suggestions here but just one heads up: please don’t open the DL skymiles card for less than 50-60k skymiles which happens fairly regularly. Since AmEx signup bonuses are once per lifetime you will not be able to get the increase bonus later. The highest I’ve seen on that card is 70k. I’d definitely jump on the SPG personal and business cards first given that those 35k each offers are about to expire. You might also consider MR cards from American Express that transfer 1:1 Instantly to DL.

The AA cards are also a good idea if you want to open up some options with the non-stop BOS-HKG flight from where you can connect to DPS.

Lastly, I’d also suggest outright redemptions instead of trying to upgrade. Good luck!